Creating a New Trust

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that Aboriginal women in Canada suffer a long-standing distrust of Canadian police that compromises their safety and citizenship. The writer notes that like all Canadians, First Nations women need police support to deter violence and injustice against them. If they cannot turn to the police, a fundamental democratic right that they are entitled to is not functioning properly. The writer points out that this problem has been written about by Aboriginal women's groups, Canadian policing organizations, and even Amnesty International. The writer maintains that the mainstream Canadian police continue to fail Aboriginal women because they lack the imagination necessary to conquer the problems that Aboriginal women face. Or, perhaps provincial police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a good idea, but they lack the courage to employ it. The writer concludes that in either case, all Canadian citizens would benefit from new police initiatives that work for everyone.

From the Paper:

"It is exceptionally difficult, even in mainstream Canadian society, for a woman to extricate herself from a situation of domestic abuse. This requires financial and legal support. It means walking away from someone she once loved, or may still love. It means turning your life upside down while working with the police to ensure her safety. This is critical: without police support, a woman is open to harassment and assaults from not just her former spouse, but from anyone."
"But what if she distrusts the police? What if the police are, in her view, just another brutal gang that may well take advantage of her? A woman in peril cannot be expected to choose the protection of an untrustworthy bunch of thugs over the thug she intends to extricate herself from. That would be compounding her problem, rather than reducing it. As one Aboriginal writer noted in The Manitoban Online, even Native women who had been severely brutalized by family members still felt less safe when police were seen on the reservation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada. Amnesty International. Online documentation archive, 2004.
• Manson the Navigator, Johnnie. "More than a brush with the law: The strained relations between Canada's first nations and the police." The Manitoban Online. January 31, 2007
• The Justice System and Aboriginal People. "Chapter 13--Aboriginal Women." The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. 1999.
• Canada. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Canada's Performance 2005: The Government of Canada's Contribution. 2005.
• Manitoba. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Chapter 13--Aboriginal Women, 1999.

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